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just life one second everyday

one second everyday — january 2021

a fresh new year… literally!

we spent most of january huddled under blankets, sitting half a meter from the fireplace, daydreaming about a warm house… or of escaping to a sunnier spot. the pandemic rages on in portugal and so we’re stuck at home. still, we try to make the best of it, chatting with friends online, knitting, working, reading and birdwatching. we’re lucky to have the lagoon so close by — it’s been a lifesaver for stretching our legs on a run or bike ride around the salt ponds now and then. we’ve been trying new routines and schedules, and i’ve been losing weight and messing up with some spreadsheets and beeminder. januaries are good for new starts! :)

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birdwatching traveling

abetardas trail

last year, we did a little trip on a campervan for the first time — it sounded like the safest way to go out and explore a little, while technically not leaving home. we enjoyed the experience, and used the opportunity to visit some of our favorite places in alentejo. at the time, we were just starting our birdwatching hobby, so it seemed fitting that we would try to see the biggest bird in europe, the bustard…

alas, it wasn’t meant to be. despite being big birds, bustards are shy and not easy to spot in the vast steppe-like prairies of alentejo. no matter — we still enjoyed the trail in the vicinity of castro verde, with its never-ending open skies, soft rolling hills and almost dry river beds.

we’ve since acquired a pair of binoculars, and plan to go back to re-do this walk and hopefully spot some bustards at last! :)

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analogue wednesdays

analogue wednesday #248

bits of braga and other places, double exposed with gianni via roll4roll.

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languages

hsk4: done!

so, finally, after months of studying, i’ve passed the hsk4! hurray!

the writing part didn’t go too well because of technical problems — there’s a section in which you should drag parts of the sentence into the correct order, and the trackpad of the mac decided not to work at the 11th hour… but even then, 228/300 is a pretty neat result.

level four is supposed to bring you to a level in which you can:

“Discuss a relatively wide range of topics in Chinese and are capable of communicating with Chinese speakers at a high standard.”

i’m not so sure about that though… it’s one thing to study for an exam, but conversation and free writing on different topics are a different ball game and i feel like 1200 words is barely enough to scratch the surface of communication. also, the exam does not include a speaking section, and so i’ve neglected my own speaking in favor of writing and reading.

next steps? for now i’d like to relax, start reading more and maybe get back to doing tandem sessions with chinese speakers to improve my speaking. 加油 me! :)

Categories
analogue wednesdays

analogue wednesday #247

some barely double-shot frames from R4R-73 (from gianni and myself). this structure in ameixial is a dedication to José Rosa Madeira, a local watchmaker who did important work in archeology and also helped collect the spoken poems of António Aleixo.